Network Access Servers and network devices, such as internet servers, network printers, file servers, and Virtual Private Network Servers, often require an approved authorization request before they may be accessed by a user. In its simplest form, an authorization request consists of a username and password. One common method of processing an authorization request to a network device is via a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server. Generally, a user wishing to access a network device or Network Access Server (NAS) connects through a client software program residing on a user-based computing device, such as a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. A NAS is a device that can act as an access point for a user device. Many types of NAS devices are known. For example, among other things a NAS may be a dial-in modem, an internet protocol (IP) router, a secure shell (SSH) based remote access appliance, a network firewall appliance, a secure socket layer (SSL) remote access gateway appliance, or a virtual private network (VPN) server. Generally, to initiate a connection with a network device, the user device selectively transmits a series of data items to a NAS. The transmitted data items may include, for example, a user identifier and authentication code associated with the network device to be accessed. The authentication code may be, for example, a network password, a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) authentication mechanism, a hardware token identifier, etc.
In known RADIUS systems, each unique user identifier is tied to a single authentication mechanism. In addition, each unique user identifier can only store one set of data attributes, which may or may not be compatible across different classes of devices. Accordingly, for an end user to access a network device through more than one NAS and/or more than one authentication mechanism, the user must create separate user accounts having unique user identifiers for each class of NAS and/or authentication method. Thus, for a user to be able to access a network device, e.g., from home over a home IP router, and also to be able to access the network device, e.g., from a work site over a VPN server, the user generally must create separate user accounts using separate, unique user identifiers for each of these connections.